Benefits To Doing Right
There are times when the Christian life is seen as being too restrictive and too hard to live. Yes, there are boundaries to living for God. But the benefits are there. We see this theme repeatedly in the scriptures. Solomon, considered the wisest man of his day, wrote of the benefits that a genuine relationship with the Lord, coupled with the efforts to live by His standards, brings into our lives. This wisdom has lasted for thousands of years. God’s wisdom does not disappear or change according to culture.
A reverence for God adds to our life. The implied add is in years. Contrast that with the wicked, those with no respect or acknowledgment of God, and their lives are shortened. In Psalm thirty-four, David, the father of Solomon, wrote that the fear of the Lord was connected to long life and good days. There is no downside to the fear of God.
The hope, or expectation of the righteous, those who are right in God’s sight, will be gladness. Again, this positive expectation is for those who have been made right through Christ and are endeavoring to live inside of that right standing. Instead of an expectation of gloom and doom, there is the hope of something good in this life and in the next. To the wicked, not so much.
The way of the Lord is strangling to the upright. Sorry, I read that wrong. God’s ways are strength to those living right before Him. But to the wicked, when they work wrong and evil, it does not result in good things. This falls in line with the principle of sowing and reaping. God is not mocked; we reap what we sow, according to Galatians 6:7-8. Plant seeds of doing good and right, and reap life. Plant seeds of selfishness and evil, and there’s a bad harvest coming. A bad moon on the rise (if you know you know).
The last benefit from our passage, but not the last benefit from living right before God, is stability. The righteous are the ones left standing when all is said and done. I believe that pertains to life here and now and in the life to come when we rule and reign with Jesus on the earth. When Christ returns to set up His eternal kingdom here, we’ll be with Him.
Longer life, positive expectations, strength, and stability. There are benefits to living for God and doing things His way.